Pete Hegseth’s spokeswoman got testy when forced to answer questions over whether the defense secretary believed she—and other women—should be allowed to vote.
Hegseth—known for his ultra-Christian views—last Friday shared a video of a pastor supporting repealing the 19th Amendment.
The controversial clip featured Christian nationalist Pastor Doug Wilson and other preachers, one of whom argued that only men should cast household votes, and another who said women’s voting rights should be scrapped altogether.
The defense secretary captioned it, “All of Christ for All of Life.”
All of Christ for All of Life. https://t.co/QqXhqZFStv
— Pete Hegseth (@PeteHegseth) August 8, 2025
When asked whether, in reposting the clip, it meant Hegseth agreed with their sentiment, his female Pentagon press secretary, Kingsley Wilson, snapped, “Of course the secretary thinks that women should have the right to vote.”
At Thursday’s off-camera, on-the-record press briefing, Wilson faced a barrage over the repost and Hegseth’s ties to Doug Wilson’s church network.
When a reporter asked if servicewomen—and women generally—should retain the right to vote, Wilson snapped, “That’s a stupid question.”
Pressed on why, then, Hegseth would platform someone arguing to take that right away, she said the secretary “very much appreciates many of Mr. Wilson’s writings and teachings.” She added, “I’m not going to litigate every single aspect of what he may or may not believe in a certain video.”
Despite her pushback, the Q&A continued to circle the same point—did Hegseth disagree with the pastors?
But Wilson dutifully stuck to the script—that her boss supports the 19th Amendment—while declining to say which of the video’s “traditional Christian viewpoints” he shares.
Asked if calls from Democrats for Hegseth to apologize and resign would be heeded, Wilson answered, “Absolutely not.”
The fiery presser came after Hillary Clinton warned on social media that Hegseth’s posting of the video showed he, and other members of the Trump administration, would be coming after women’s right to vote.
She wrote, “You know how people called women hysterical for predicting the right wing would take down Roe v. Wade (which they’ve done) and then attack access to birth control (which they’re doing)?
“Hear me when I say that women’s very right to vote is next.”
Hegseth’s social media promotion of Wilson’s church network, the Communion of Reformed Evangelical Churches—which Doug Wilson co-founded—came after he railed that the military “allowed itself to go woke,” declaring that generals and admirals “involved in any of the DEI woke s–t has got to go.”
At the same time, high-profile moves have targeted senior women across the services. Last month, Hegseth removed Vice Adm. Yvette Davids, the first woman to lead the U.S. Naval Academy, before the end of her expected term.
Earlier this year, Vice Adm. Shoshana Chatfield was fired from her NATO billet, and Adm. Linda Fagan—history’s first female service chief—was ousted from the Coast Guard by Homeland Security.
The Daily Beast has contacted the Pentagon for comment.
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